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George I of Great Britain

George I (Georg Ludwig) (28 May 1660 – 11 June 1727) was Duke of Brunswick-L¸neburg (Hanover) from 23 January 1698, and King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 1 August 1714, until his death. He was also the Archbannerbearer (afterwards Archtreasurer) and a Prince Elector of the Holy Roman Empire. George I, the first Hanoverian monarch of Great Britain and Ireland, was not a fluent speaker of the English language; instead, he spoke his native German, and was for this ridiculed by his British subjects. During his reign, the powers of the monarchy found themselves diminished; the modern system of government by a Cabinet underwent development. During the later years of his reign, actual power was held by a de facto Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole.

Early years

George was born on 28 May 1660 in Hanover, Germany. He was the eldest son of Ernst August, Duke of Brunswick-L¸neburg, a German prince, and of his wife, Sophia. Duke George of Brunswick-L¸neburg, as he was then known, was the heir-apparent to his father's German territory.

In 1682, George married his first cousin, the Princess Sophia of Celle, who was the only child of his father's elder brother. They had two children, George (b. 1683) and Sophia Dorothea (b. 1687). The couple were however soon estranged; George preferred the society of his mistress, Ehrengard Melusine von der Schulenburg, whom he later created Duchess of Munster and Kendal in Great Britain, and by whom he had at least three illegitimate children.

Sophia, meanwhile, had her own romantic connection with the Swedish Count Philip Christoph von K–nigsmarck. Threatened with the scandal of an elopement, the Hanoverian court ordered the lovers to desist, and George appears to have countenanced a plan to murder K–nigsmarck. The count was killed in July 1694, and his body was then thrown into a river. The murder appears to have been committed by four of George's courtiers, one of whom is said to have been paid the enormous sum of 150,000 talers, which in that day was about one hundred times the annual salary of the highest-paid minister.

George's marriage to Sophia was dissolved, not on the grounds that either of them committed adultery, but on the grounds that Sophia had "abandoned" her husband. With the concurrence of her father, George had Sophia imprisoned in the Castle of Ahlden in her native Celle. She was denied access to her children and her father, and forbidden to remarry. She was however endowed with an income, establishment and servants, and was allowed to ride in a carriage outside her castle, albeit under supervision.

Early reign

In 1698, Ernst August died, leaving all of his territories to George, with the exception of the Prince-Bishopric of Osnabr¸ck. (The Prince-Bishopric was not an hereditary title; instead, it alternated between Protestant and Roman Catholic incumbents.) George thus became Duke of Brunswick-L¸neburg (also known as Hannover, after its capital), and thereby the Archbannerbearer (a prestigious sinecure) and, importantly, a Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire (hence the principality was also known as Kurbraunschweich). His court in Hanover was graced by many cultural icons, such as the mathematician Gottfried Leibniz and the composer H”ndel.

Shortly after George's accession to his paternal dukedom, the Parliament of England passed the Act of Settlement 1701, whereunder George's mother, the Electress Sophia, was designated heir to the British Throne if the then-reigning monarch (William III) and his sister-in-law Princess Anne of Denmark (the later Queen Anne)) both died without issue. The succession was so designed because Sophia was the closest Protestant relative of the British Royal Family; numerous Catholics with superior hereditary claims were bypassed. In England, the Tories generally opposed allowing a foreigner to succeed to the Throne, whilst the Whigs favoured a Protestant successor regardless of nationality. George is said to have been reluctant to accept the English plan, but his Hanoverian advisors suggested that he should acquiesce so that his German possessions would become more secure.

Shortly after George's accession in Hanover, the War of the Spanish Succession broke outAt issue was the right of Philip, the grandson of the French King Louis XIV, to succeed to the Spanish Throne under the terms of the will of the Spanish King Charles II. The Holy Roman Empire, the United Provinces, England, Hanover and many other German states opposed Philip's right to succeed because they feared that France would become too powerful if it also could control Spain.

George's support for England may have conciliated many Englishmen, but it did not impress the people of Scotland. The English Parliament had settled on Sophia, Electress of Hanover, without consulting the Estates of Scotland (the Scottish Parliament). In 1703, the Estates passed a bill that declared that they would elect Queen Anne's successor from amongst the Protestant descendants of past Scottish monarchs. This successor would not be the same individual as the successor to the English Throne, unless numerous political and economic concessions were made by England. The Royal Assent was originally withheld, which caused the Scottish Estates to refuse to raise taxes and threaten to withdraw troops from the army fighting in the War of the Spanish Succession. In 1704, Anne capitulated, and her Assent was granted to the bill, which became the Act of Security. Angered, the English Parliament passed several measures which restricted Anglo-Scottish trade and crippled the Scottish economy. In 1707, the Act of Union was passed; it united England and Scotland into a single political entity, the Kingdom of Great Britain. The rules of succession established by the Act of Settlement were retained. The House of Hanover was not entirely acceptable to many Scotsmen, as would be later reflected by rebellions during George I's reign.

In 1706, the Duke of Bavaria was degraded for defecting from the Imperial side to the French side; his dignity of Archtreasurer of the Empire was granted to George. In 1710, the Reichstag, or Imperial Assembly, formally confirmed George's position as a Prince-Elector. The War of the Spanish Succession would continue until 1713, when it ended indecisively with the ratification of the Treaty of Utrecht. Philip was allowed to succeed to the Spanish Throne, but he was removed from the line of succession to the French Throne.

Accession in Great Britain

George's mother, the Electress Sophia, died only a few weeks before Anne, Queen of Great Britain. Pursuant to the Act of Union 1707, George became King of Great Britain when Anne died on 1 August 1714. He did not arrive in Great Britain until 18 September; during his absence, the Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench acted as a regent. He was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 20 October.

Upon his accession the practice relating to the dignity of princes was changed. Before the Hanoverians, the only princely dignities were those of Prince of Wales (customarily granted to the heir-apparent) and Princess Royal (customarily granted to the Sovereign's eldest daughter). The other members of the Royal Family were only entitled to the styles "Lord" and "Lady." George I, however, was accustomed to the German practice, whereunder the princely dignity was more common. Consequently, the Sovereign's children and grandchildren in the male line became Princes and Princesses styled "Royal Highness," and great-grandchildren in the male line became Princes and Princesses styled "Highness".

George I primarily resided in Great Britain, though he often visited his home in Hanover. During the King's absences, power was vested either in his son, George, Prince of Wales, or in a committee of "Guardians and Justices of the Kingdom". Even whilst he was in Great Britain, the King occupied himself with Hanoverian concerns. He spoke poor English, and many of his contemporaries thought him unintelligent. Power consequently passed from the Crown to its ministers.

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